The Charlie Kirk Show - You Can’t Be Free Without Being Happy with Dr. Daniel Amen
Aired: 2023-06-18
Duration: 01:14:01


=== Freedom From Mental Torment (06:12) ===

[00:00:00]  Hey everybody, happy Sunday.
[00:00:02]  Conversation I had with Dr. Amon from Amon Clinics, author of many books, talk about depression, anxiety, mental health issues.
[00:00:09]  He is the world expert on brain health.
[00:00:12]  We got a great response after this event.
[00:00:15]  I think this conversation will bless you.
[00:00:17]  Listen to the entire episode, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
[00:00:20]  Freedom at CharlieKirk.com.
[00:00:22]  Get involved with TurningPointUSA at tpusa.com and get your tickets to Turning Point Action Conference.
[00:00:29]  That is tpaction.com.
[00:00:31]  That is tpaction.com.
[00:00:34]  Buckle up, everybody.
[00:00:35]  Here we go.
[00:00:36]  Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.
[00:00:38]  Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.
[00:00:40]  I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.
[00:00:44]  Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.
[00:00:47]  I want to thank Charlie.
[00:00:48]  He's an incredible guy.
[00:00:49]  His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.
[00:00:57]  We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.
[00:01:06]  That's why we are here.
[00:01:10]  Hello, everybody.
[00:01:11]  That was really great, Jeff.
[00:01:12]  Good job.
[00:01:13]  That was terrific.
[00:01:14]  You know, Jeff does a lot of performances, and I heard him about a year and a half ago.
[00:01:19]  I said, we got to have you at Freedom Night one night.
[00:01:21]  So super honored, and that was really, really great.
[00:01:26]  So I'm not going to spend too much time here.
[00:01:28]  We have a really special guest here tonight.
[00:01:31]  And, you know, the entire month of May, Dream City was focusing on Mental Health Month.
[00:01:38]  And so it's technically June, so we're just going to make it work.
[00:01:42]  But I was then motivated to invite my friend and someone who I've had on my podcast who's impacted so many lives on this topic.
[00:01:50]  And he has a completely different way of approaching it than most people.
[00:01:54]  He has a different way of thinking about it.
[00:01:56]  In fact, some of you have probably seen his video on YouTube.
[00:02:02]  I see some people nodding.
[00:02:03]  It's been seen 19 million times.
[00:02:06]  And some of you probably recognize him.
[00:02:10]  Now, I don't admit it from watching the Kardashians on Hulu.
[00:02:15]  That's totally where I recognized him, obviously, when I first heard about him when he was brain scanning Chloe Kardashian and Kendall Jenner's brain.
[00:02:24]  And so he's got a very, he's well known in the space and he has a lot to say.
[00:02:30]  And the reason I think it's fitting for us on Freedom Night is that can you be a free citizen if you're living in mental torment?
[00:02:38]  Can you be a free citizen if you are constantly getting advice, medical advice, pharmaceutical advice that is making you less likely to flourish, less alive?
[00:02:54]  You know, somebody that is currently running for the presidency, again, this is not a political thing, but you might be very surprised to him in a say who is saying something very interesting.
[00:03:03]  It's Bobby Kennedy Jr. who is running.
[00:03:06]  And isn't that amazing?
[00:03:08]  We got applause.
[00:03:08]  You're supposed to hate him.
[00:03:09]  I actually kind of like what he has to say because he talks about environmental toxins and he talks about how these companies might actually be trying to harm us and how we as sovereign beings made in the image of God need to be aware that maybe these kids staring at screens all day long not exactly good for them.
[00:03:29]  Maybe the food that we are eating is not what it used to be.
[00:03:33]  And so it is Freedom Night and typically we're always talking about liberty and freedom from tyranny.
[00:03:42]  Boy is that needed now given the news today, which only furthers that.
[00:03:49]  But isn't it equally as important if we want to fight the bad guys and all that sort of stuff and to revitalize the country to be the healthiest we can possibly be?
[00:04:00]  And we are living through an unprecedented, we don't even know the depth of the damage of how many young people are dealing with mental torment.
[00:04:10]  It's the most suicidal, alcohol-addicted, drug-addicted generation in history.
[00:04:16]  And the kind of main line of thinking is let's just throw more drugs at it no matter what.
[00:04:21]  And are we actually getting down to root causes?
[00:04:24]  And in fact, I believe Jesus always seeks to set the captivates free, free from lies, free from tyranny, free from totalitarianism, and also free from any some of the issues.
[00:04:39]  God is the great physician.
[00:04:42]  And in fact, you know, as I visit these college campuses, I have a great deal of sympathy and compassion because I feel a lot of these kind of social contagions that we see manifest, especially in the month of June, are people that are really hurting and people that need help.
[00:04:58]  And so there's a booth out there that you guys can get the book afterwards for, I don't even know, I think most basically for just if you sign up or give a gift an email, but I've read this book twice.
[00:05:07]  It's incredible.
[00:05:08]  We're going to talk about it tonight.
[00:05:09]  It's called Change Your Brain Every Day.
[00:05:11]  And it's changing the perspective of actually how we view this issue.
[00:05:17]  And you think of what would an evil ruler want?
[00:05:20]  What would a tyrant want?
[00:05:23]  If you are the nastiest, most evil person in charge, would you want a country of people that are mentally strong and free, or a country of people that are in torment and people that are not free from that?
[00:05:40]  Jesus says in John 8, I came to set the captives free.
[00:05:45]  And tonight, I have to just reemphasize this.
[00:05:48]  We are super blessed to have one of the most requested and demanded and sought-after speakers in this space on the planet, someone who literally lectures around the world here tonight at Freedom Night.
[00:06:01]  Please join me in welcoming Dr. Daniel Amy.
[00:06:06]  Thank you so much.
[00:06:07]  What a joy to be here.
[00:06:11]  So welcome to Phoenix.

=== Setting Captives Free With Brain Health (11:27) ===

[00:06:13]  And so, Doctor, I thought it would be fitting for you just to introduce yourself.
[00:06:17]  How did you get into this world of looking at people's brains?
[00:06:25]  Give me the brain.
[00:06:29]  So the short story is in 1972, I turned 18, and we were still involved in Vietnam, which meant I had a draft number, and it was 19, which meant by, and I became an infantry medic, where my love of medicine was born.
[00:06:52]  But about a year into it, I realized something very important about myself.
[00:06:57]  I don't like being shot at.
[00:07:01]  There's some people that actually like that.
[00:07:04]  No.
[00:07:06]  No.
[00:07:08]  And I got myself retrained as an x-ray technician and developed a passion for medical imaging.
[00:07:16]  And our professors used to say, how do you know unless you look?
[00:07:22]  And then fast forward a couple of years at Oral Roberts University, that's where I went to medical school, because I wanted to learn medicine in the context of my faith.
[00:07:35]  And I'm a second-year student there, and someone I love tries to kill herself.
[00:07:45]  And I'm horrified, afraid.
[00:07:49]  And I took her to see the chief of psychiatry at ORU.
[00:07:53]  His name was Stanley Wallace.
[00:07:55]  And I came to realize I loved him.
[00:07:59]  He was so helpful for her.
[00:08:01]  And I came to realize if he helped her, which he did, it wouldn't just help her.
[00:08:08]  That ultimately it would help her children and her grandchildren as they would be shaped by someone who is happier and more stable.
[00:08:18]  People who struggle with anxiety, with depression, with OCD, with PTSD, ADHD, addiction.
[00:08:27]  It's not just about them.
[00:08:30]  It's about everybody around them and then generations of them.
[00:08:36]  This is a big deal.
[00:08:38]  So I fell in love with psychiatry 44 years ago, and I've loved it every day since.
[00:08:47]  It is the perfect profession for me.
[00:08:52]  I love it.
[00:08:54]  But I fell in love with the only medical specialty that never looks at the organ it treats.
[00:09:02]  Think about that.
[00:09:05]  We were talking about Abraham Lincoln earlier.
[00:09:08]  I love Lincoln because he failed, he failed, he failed, he failed, and then became a wild success.
[00:09:15]  And Lincoln suffered with depression.
[00:09:19]  He was actually suicidal at two points in his life.
[00:09:24]  And how did Anson Henry, his doctor in Springfield, Illinois, diagnose Lincoln with depression?
[00:09:30]  He talked to him.
[00:09:32]  He looked at him.
[00:09:33]  He looked for symptom clusters, then diagnosed and treated him.
[00:09:38]  That's exactly what's happening in 2023.
[00:09:41]  That's insane.
[00:09:44]  So, in 1991, I just knew it would change.
[00:09:47]  I just had no idea I'd be part of it.
[00:09:50]  I went to my first lecture on brain spect imaging, and this is so cool.
[00:09:57]  And I was like a little kid because I knew imaging was coming.
[00:10:01]  And when I started looking at the brain, it changed everything in my life.
[00:10:08]  I'm not kidding when I say it.
[00:10:10]  It changed everything in my life.
[00:10:13]  And what we've learned, we've done 230,000 scans now on patients from 150 countries.
[00:10:20]  And the big lesson is most psychiatric problems are not mental health issues.
[00:10:27]  They're brain health issues.
[00:10:29]  Get your brain right, and your mind will follow.
[00:10:34]  I hate the term mental illness.
[00:10:37]  I hate this term.
[00:10:38]  Why?
[00:10:39]  Because it shames people.
[00:10:41]  You call somebody mental, you're demeaning them.
[00:10:45]  You're diminishing them.
[00:10:47]  You call them a brain, you're elevating them.
[00:10:51]  Nobody wants a mental illness.
[00:10:54]  Everybody wants a better brain.
[00:10:57]  So what if psychiatric problems were brain health problems?
[00:11:05]  Now, if you believe that, and you should, everything in your life changes because you have to start looking at the food you eat.
[00:11:18]  You have to start looking at how much you exercise.
[00:11:21]  You have to begin to put away the alcohol because it's not serving the health of your brain.
[00:11:27]  That marijuana is not a health food.
[00:11:30]  I mean, the insanity in our country.
[00:11:34]  That was a long answer, sorry.
[00:11:37]  You're in the right place, doctor, as you could tell.
[00:11:40]  I want to just add some scripture to what you're saying in the first murder of the Bible, Cain and Abel, when God has the famous dialogue.
[00:11:50]  He says, What happened to your brother?
[00:11:51]  And he says, What am I?
[00:11:52]  My brother's keeper.
[00:11:53]  And then God admonishes him.
[00:11:54]  It's not that you just killed Abel.
[00:11:57]  The ground is crying out because it is the future generations you killed.
[00:12:03]  So it is the potential that you could have for your kids and your grandkids and through that impact.
[00:12:12]  So let me ask you a question.
[00:12:14]  Right now, approximately anywhere between 50 to 70 million Americans are on some form of dosage of antidepressants or psychiatric medicine, something.
[00:12:26]  Those are just rough estimates as you're looking at.
[00:12:29]  What percentage of doctors that are prescribing them actually look at the brain?
[00:12:34]  None.
[00:12:35]  I mean, when we look at the, I'm in church.
[00:12:41]  Say the right thing.
[00:12:42]  You're in church.
[00:12:51]  The disaster that is happening in our society.
[00:12:57]  25% of women are on antidepressants.
[00:13:01]  Last year, there were 337 million prescriptions written for antidepressants.
[00:13:08]  Think about that.
[00:13:10]  There's 60 million prescriptions written for stimulant medications.
[00:13:16]  And don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to medicine.
[00:13:19]  I'm just opposed to that's the first and only thing you do without anybody ever assessing your brain.
[00:13:28]  And 85% of psychiatric drugs are prescribed by non-psychiatric physicians in 10-minute office visits who do standard of care treatment 12% of the time.
[00:13:46]  This is insane what is happening.
[00:13:49]  They're passing out.
[00:13:50]  And the problem with psychiatric medicine, if it's not done properly, it changes your brain to need it in order for you to feel normal.
[00:14:04]  And I want you to feel better fast, but I want it to last.
[00:14:10]  And too often, people go to the emergency room, they have a panic attack, they complain of chest pain, they figure out it's a panic attack, they put them on Xanax that they're on for the next 40 years because when you try to withdraw from it, you feel awful.
[00:14:29]  And why would we start something that we can't stop?
[00:14:35]  So the pharmaceutical industry is winning, and they're winning, and they're winning.
[00:14:43]  And as a society, we are losing.
[00:14:47]  And we need a different way.
[00:14:49]  So if you think of it as brain health, before you go on Lexapro, you start exercising and you stop believing every stupid thing you think.
[00:15:00]  We live in a society of undisciplined thinkers.
[00:15:05]  And Charlie and I talked on this podcast about the four big circles.
[00:15:10]  So I went to a Christian medical school.
[00:15:12]  It's very important to me.
[00:15:14]  And the first week, Sid Garrett, who is our dean, comes into our classroom and he goes to the board and he says, never think of your patients as their diagnosis.
[00:15:27]  Always think of them in these four circles.
[00:15:31]  And this is how people get sick and it's how they get well.
[00:15:36]  So the first circle he drew, and then he put biology.
[00:15:40]  You have to understand the physical functioning of their brains and their bodies.
[00:15:48]  So this is very important.
[00:15:50]  And then he drew the second circle.
[00:15:52]  He said, and this is the psychology.
[00:15:54]  This is how they think and their traumas, their development.
[00:16:00]  You have to understand that.
[00:16:02]  And he's just not talking about psychiatry.
[00:16:04]  He's talking about all of medicine, whether you have hypertension or diabetes or cancer.
[00:16:09]  And then the third circle was the social circle, which I think church can be so important in, but it's our connections with other people.
[00:16:20]  And then he drew the last circle, which most psychiatrists wouldn't touch, which is the spiritual circle, which is ultimately it's your relationship with God, your relationship with our home, the planet, your relationship with the past.
[00:16:37]  So for me, it's anchored in my grandfather.
[00:16:42]  And the future, anchored in my grandchildren.
[00:16:46]  And so when you know why you're on the planet, you can have a bad brain and you do better.
[00:16:56]  When people, and I've scanned serial killers, I've scanned school shooters.
[00:17:03]  Generally, if you have a troubled brain, but you're connected to a church family, you do way better.
[00:17:15]  One of my school shooters, he had problems in all four circles, a very damaged brain, a damaged mind, no relationships, and he had no connection.
[00:17:30]  His purpose was to hurt people.
[00:17:33]  So getting well, what does that mean?
[00:17:36]  It means you've got to get your brain and body healthy.

=== Why Obesity Shrinks Your Brain (02:58) ===

[00:17:40]  And we'll talk about that.
[00:17:42]  I published three studies, one on 33,000 people.
[00:17:47]  As your weight goes up, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down, which should scare the fat off anyone.
[00:18:00]  72% of Americans are overweight.
[00:18:02]  42% are obese.
[00:18:05]  If I was an evil ruler, I'd put fast food restaurants all down Main Street.
[00:18:15]  So got to get your brain and body healthy.
[00:18:18]  Got to kill the ants, the automatic negative thoughts that steal your happiness.
[00:18:24]  So we'll talk about disciplining your mind.
[00:18:27]  You need to work on connections.
[00:18:29]  And this is, again, where the church can be so helpful.
[00:18:32]  And you need to ask yourself why you're on the planet.
[00:18:35]  What is your deepest sense of meaning and purpose?
[00:18:39]  And then you get well.
[00:18:40]  I mean, I love what I do because people often get well.
[00:18:45]  And I have to say, we have a brand new clinic in Scottsdale, which I'm really excited about.
[00:18:53]  So, Doctor, let's just focus on, you know, not just America being overweight, but also you mentioned two other things that people can do.
[00:19:03]  And the best you can in a short period of time, bright minds kind of going through those risk factors.
[00:19:08]  But you kind of said two things that most doctors are afraid to say out loud.
[00:19:14]  Earlier, you said alcohol and marijuana.
[00:19:18]  I don't know about you, but I think it's repulsive that we have these marijuana clinics popping up all over Scottsdale.
[00:19:25]  I don't know who these Scottsdale City Council people are.
[00:19:29]  I got enough on my plate.
[00:19:30]  Can somebody run for Scottsdale Mayor and shut down that clinic on Greenway Hayden and Frank Lloyd Wright?
[00:19:36]  We should have zero marijuana dispensaries, zero in Scottsdale.
[00:19:41]  In Phoenix, you guys can worry about your own problems.
[00:19:44]  But in Scottsdale, you're going to run for, you're going to run, Angel?
[00:19:48]  Angel for mayor?
[00:19:49]  I think that would be great.
[00:19:50]  Angel for mayor.
[00:19:52]  Angel for mayor.
[00:19:54]  No more weed.
[00:19:55]  That would be.
[00:19:56]  Now, doctor, am I overreacting, doctor?
[00:19:58]  Because some parents say, oh, my kid's doing marijuana, not a big deal.
[00:20:02]  My kid is casually drinking, not a big deal.
[00:20:04]  Am I just an old school, stodgy 1950s conservative, or am I onto something?
[00:20:11]  You're onto something.
[00:20:13]  Kids who use marijuana in their 20s.
[00:20:18]  So kids who use it as teenagers in their 20s have a higher incidence of anxiety, depression, and suicide.
[00:20:26]  It is not okay.
[00:20:28]  If you're one of my six kids, I'm like, we're not aligned.
[00:20:32]  I am not going to support you or that behavior in any way.

=== Protecting Developing Brains From Drugs (04:06) ===

[00:20:38]  We're just not aligned.
[00:20:40]  I adopted, so I have six kids, three of them I adopted.
[00:20:45]  The 18 and 13-year-old, their parents couldn't stop using drugs.
[00:20:55]  So my wife and I adopted them.
[00:20:57]  And alignment is a term I use a lot.
[00:21:03]  And if we're aligned, I'm going to support your growth.
[00:21:07]  If we're not aligned, I'm not supporting it.
[00:21:11]  It's tricky, but I'm really clear.
[00:21:15]  You need to be, I told them, on a drug abuse prevention program every single day of your life.
[00:21:26]  So talk about that.
[00:21:29]  And oh, by the way, if you do what I say, this is the Alzheimer's Prevention Program.
[00:21:34]  It's a depression prevention program.
[00:21:36]  If you want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it, you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors that steal your mind.
[00:21:45]  So it's all in Change Your Brain Every Day and The End of Mental Illness, the books we brought.
[00:21:52]  But let me just do it quickly and give you one simple tip for each of these risk factors.
[00:22:00]  So the mnemonic is called bright minds.
[00:22:03]  The B is for blood flow.
[00:22:05]  Low blood flow is the number one brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer's disease.
[00:22:10]  It's associated with ADHD, with depression, and schizophrenia.
[00:22:15]  You never want to do anything that decreases blood flow.
[00:22:20]  Much caffeine, caffeine's not your friend.
[00:22:23]  It's a drug.
[00:22:25]  Nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, not exercising.
[00:22:30]  Netflix decreases blood flow to the brain.
[00:22:34]  Just saying.
[00:22:37]  Although if you haven't watched shrinking, watch shrinking.
[00:22:40]  It's hysterical.
[00:22:42]  Anyways, so what's the tiny habit for blood flow?
[00:22:46]  And oh, by the way, I don't know if I can say this in church.
[00:22:49]  No, I can't.
[00:22:50]  If you have blood flow problems anywhere, it means they're everywhere.
[00:22:55]  So if you want your love life to get better, start taking care of your brain.
[00:23:04]  Yeah, you were slow on that one.
[00:23:09]  So it's the tiny habit for blood flow.
[00:23:11]  Walk like you're late.
[00:23:13]  45 minutes, four times a week.
[00:23:15]  Walk like you're late, 45 minutes, four times a week, compared to Zolot in people who had major depression, equally effective.
[00:23:28]  Walk like you're late 45 minutes, four times a week.
[00:23:33]  The R is retirement and aging.
[00:23:36]  And the older you get, the more serious you need to be about brain health.
[00:23:40]  But did you know Alzheimer's disease actually starts in your brain 20 to 30 years before you have your first symptom?
[00:23:49]  So if you're waiting to start losing your mind before you get serious about getting well, that's a bad strategy.
[00:23:59]  And all of you should know some important numbers.
[00:24:06]  Ferritin is one.
[00:24:07]  It's a measure of iron storage in your body.
[00:24:10]  If it's low, you're anemic and you're anxious and you can't sleep.
[00:24:14]  If it's high, it prematurely ages your body and brain.
[00:24:18]  And so measure your ferritin level.
[00:24:21]  And if it's high, donate blood.
[00:24:23]  So donating blood is good for you if your iron level is high and it's good for our society.
[00:24:31]  The I is inflammation.
[00:24:33]  It's a major cause of depression.
[00:24:37]  And the big causes of inflammation, gum disease, you need to be a flossing fool.

=== The Hidden Cost Of High Ferritin (03:50) ===

[00:24:44]  So I'll take that one as our one thing.
[00:24:46]  Low omega-3 fatty acids.
[00:24:48]  All of you should be taking an omega-3 supplement.
[00:24:51]  98% of the population is deficient in omega-3s and processed foods.
[00:24:58]  I know I saw the potato chips upstairs, and I haven't said anything yet.
[00:25:03]  And I'm thinking about maybe do I want to go to church and get my soul fed, and these people are trying to kill me.
[00:25:11]  No.
[00:25:13]  I think it's okay to question as an organization where we spend our money.
[00:25:20]  And just a thought for me.
[00:25:23]  The G is genetics.
[00:25:29]  But we don't think about genetics right.
[00:25:31]  Most people go, oh, I'm fat because my family's fat.
[00:25:35]  I'm like, no, you're fat because you make bad decisions and you have a genetic vulnerability.
[00:25:40]  Or I'm an alcoholic because, you know, we have alcoholics in the family.
[00:25:45]  I'm like, no, you have that predisposition.
[00:25:50]  Genes are not a descent.
[00:25:52]  They increase your vulnerability.
[00:25:54]  Like in my family, I have heart disease and obesity, but I don't have heart disease and I'm not overweight.
[00:26:03]  Why?
[00:26:03]  Because every day of my life, I'm on an obesity heart disease prevention program.
[00:26:11]  Know your risk and then get serious about preventing them.
[00:26:19]  The H is head trauma.
[00:26:21]  If you ask me, hey, Daniel, single most important lesson you've learned from 230,000 scans: mild traumatic brain injury ruins people's lives, and nobody knows about it because they go see psychiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family counselors who never look at the brain.
[00:26:39]  We need to do a better job of protecting the brain.
[00:26:45]  I did the big NFL study at a time when the NFL was lying that they had a problem.
[00:26:50]  Around 2007, 2008, Roger Goodell was in front of Congress going, We don't know.
[00:26:59]  We're studying the issue.
[00:27:01]  They knew.
[00:27:04]  I loved when Maxine Waters, who we often don't agree with, waxed the commissioner.
[00:27:12]  And she said, Commissioner, having you act like you're studying traumatic brain injury in football is like the tobacco companies saying they're studying lung cancer.
[00:27:24]  It's a conflict of interest.
[00:27:26]  That is the smartest thing she ever said.
[00:27:29]  I like her more than I like Roger Goodell, just for the record.
[00:27:32]  So, not a Roger Goodell fan.
[00:27:36]  So, I've scanned and treated 350 NFL players.
[00:27:40]  I mean, like cool players like Rosie Greer and Jack Youngblood and Terry Bradshaw and one of my favorites, Dick Bucus, who calls me his brain savior, which I thought was weird, but cool.
[00:27:59]  80% of so contact sports for children is a bad idea.
[00:28:05]  Why?
[00:28:06]  They have a developing brain.
[00:28:08]  So think of their brain like this magical city under construction that is actually not done until they're 25.
[00:28:18]  Would you really just start getting a wrecking ball and putting it through the buildings that you're building if you were smart?
[00:28:27]  No, that's something that an insane person would do.
[00:28:32]  You have to protect their brains.

=== Scanning Toxins In Daily Products (02:13) ===

[00:28:35]  The tea is toxins.
[00:28:36]  And oh my goodness, we could go on and on with toxins.
[00:28:40]  Marijuana is innocuous.
[00:28:42]  It's a lie.
[00:28:43]  Alcohol is a health food.
[00:28:45]  That's another lie.
[00:28:46]  You know, oh, we should be going on these mushroom trips.
[00:28:50]  That's going to be the next.
[00:28:53]  And we've seen, you know, people go, aren't you excited about psilocybin?
[00:28:57]  I'm like, no, I'm like scared out of my mind because I've seen this play before.
[00:29:02]  I've seen benzos are innocuous.
[00:29:05]  They're mommy's little helper.
[00:29:07]  No, they're addictive.
[00:29:08]  They increase the risk of dementia.
[00:29:10]  Or opiates, you know, pain is the fifth vital sign.
[00:29:15]  If you're in pain, we should give you an opiate.
[00:29:17]  And now we have the opiate crisis or alcohol's health food.
[00:29:22]  It's just a complete lie.
[00:29:25]  But there are other toxins like mold and the products you put on your children's bodies.
[00:29:34]  You need to start reading the labels, things like parabens, phthalates, fragrance, BPAs.
[00:29:41]  They're hormone disruptors.
[00:29:43]  We have this now epidemic of low testosterone in young males.
[00:29:50]  And when testosterone is low, it's not just about libido.
[00:29:54]  It's about motivation.
[00:29:57]  It's about mood.
[00:29:58]  It's about memory and strength.
[00:30:02]  And we have this epidemic in large part, I think, because of the toxins in our food and the toxins we're putting on products on our body.
[00:30:14]  Like there's an app.
[00:30:15]  So here be the tiny habit for toxins: download, think dirty.
[00:30:21]  It's not what you think it is.
[00:30:23]  It's an app that allows you to scan all of your personal products and it'll tell you on a scale of one to 10 how quickly they're killing you.
[00:30:32]  Like, for example, I shaved with barbasol for 50 years.
[00:30:37]  And on a scale of zero to 10, 0, you live a long time.
[00:30:40]  10 is die early.
[00:30:42]  Barbasol is a nine.
[00:30:44]  And I'm like, oh my God, I like myself way too much for that.

=== A Tidal Wave Of Youth Mental Illness (10:25) ===

[00:30:49]  So now I shave with something called Kiss My Face.
[00:30:51]  It's a two.
[00:30:52]  I like that.
[00:30:54]  It's working for me rather than hurting me.
[00:30:59]  The M in Bright Minds is for mental health.
[00:31:02]  And there you need to learn how to kill the ants, the automatic negative thoughts that steal your happiness.
[00:31:10]  Whenever you feel sad, whenever you feel mad, whenever you feel nervous or out of control, write down what you're thinking.
[00:31:19]  And then just go, is it true?
[00:31:22]  Do I absolutely know that it's true?
[00:31:25]  And then I want you.
[00:31:26]  Here's this short answer for tonight: flip the thought: my wife will leave me.
[00:31:33]  Write that down.
[00:31:35]  Is that true?
[00:31:37]  I don't know.
[00:31:39]  My wife won't leave me.
[00:31:41]  Meditate on the opposite, and all of a sudden you feel better.
[00:31:45]  And it's not lying, it's just disciplining your thoughts.
[00:31:49]  John 8:32, know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
[00:31:55]  We live in a society of lies.
[00:32:03]  The second eye is immunity and infections.
[00:32:08]  We're coming out of the pandemic, right?
[00:32:11]  We could go on and on.
[00:32:13]  And all I just say, you mentioned Robert Kennedy Jr., read his book, The Real Anthony Fauci.
[00:32:21]  It will horrify you.
[00:32:24]  And I believe every word he wrote in the book.
[00:32:28]  And of course, they're going to demonize him because the media, it's not really the media anymore.
[00:32:37]  It's controlled by outside forces that just want to make you angry and sad because they'll sell more Xanax and Prozac.
[00:32:47]  I don't know if that's being a conspiracy theory.
[00:32:49]  It's not a conspiracy if it's actually happening.
[00:32:52]  It's actually happening.
[00:32:56]  So COVID is real, but if your vitamin D level is high, you get less sick and you're much less likely to die from it.
[00:33:07]  Now, why didn't Anthony Fauci talk about everybody get their vitamin D level and everybody take 5,000 international units of vitamin D a day?
[00:33:18]  Why didn't we do that?
[00:33:19]  Because he couldn't get the vaccines through.
[00:33:23]  I mean, it's just so painfully clear.
[00:33:28]  You should know your vitamin D level and you should optimize it.
[00:33:34]  Just really important.
[00:33:37]  The N is neurohormone disorders.
[00:33:40]  You should have your hormones checked every year.
[00:33:43]  Thyroid, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol.
[00:33:49]  Just critical for women, estrogen, progesterone.
[00:33:54]  And stay away from hormone disruptors.
[00:33:57]  The D, we could talk about this all day, is diabetes.
[00:34:00]  Blood sugar is high.
[00:34:01]  You're overweight.
[00:34:02]  You're shrinking your brain.
[00:34:05]  And the little tiny habit, when you go to eat something, go, do I love it?
[00:34:15]  And does it love me back?
[00:34:17]  You're in a relationship with food.
[00:34:20]  You only want to eat something that serves your health rather than steals from your health.
[00:34:28]  And the S is sleep.
[00:34:31]  Make it a priority.
[00:34:33]  Turn off your gadgets an hour before you go to bed.
[00:34:36]  Otherwise, you won't produce enough melatonin to actually go to sleep because of all the blue light.
[00:34:44]  And if you're snoring and you stop breathing at night, you need to get checked for sleep apnea because sleep apnea triples the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
[00:34:55]  It's pretty impressive, isn't it?
[00:34:59]  So how many of these are you doing?
[00:35:02]  How many of these are you doing?
[00:35:05]  Of these conversations, we do one a month.
[00:35:07]  No, no.
[00:35:08]  Of the bright minds.
[00:35:10]  Oh, of me.
[00:35:11]  Oh, I think I'm, I got to tell you, this book has really, really helped me.
[00:35:16]  And I got my vitamin D level checked, and it's 85, which is pretty good.
[00:35:21]  Go, which is good, right?
[00:35:25]  Yeah, I lost like 25 pounds ever since I read the book.
[00:35:28]  He scared the crap out of me.
[00:35:29]  And so that was good.
[00:35:32]  And yeah, I only eat like four things now.
[00:35:35]  And so.
[00:35:38]  But they all love you back.
[00:35:39]  They all love me back, yeah.
[00:35:40]  Basically, like meat, lettuce, olive oil, and avocados.
[00:35:44]  So if you want to lose weight, get dairy out of your diet, by the way.
[00:35:47]  I think dairy is awful and terrible for you.
[00:35:50]  I find very little redeem.
[00:35:51]  And our modern dairy, okay?
[00:35:52]  If we had dairy like we did 100 years ago where you had your own cow, maybe, but I think dairy is.
[00:35:58]  So would you agree with me that Charlie is a national treasure?
[00:36:03]  Oh, that's very, that's very kind.
[00:36:08]  And so if we have a national treasure, we have to protect it.
[00:36:14]  And so one of the reasons I came here tonight, because Charlie asked me, I want him to live a long time with the best brain.
[00:36:27]  And I want that for each of you, but you have to love it, avoid things that hurt it.
[00:36:34]  I just went through the list.
[00:36:36]  And you have to do things that help it.
[00:36:39]  And if you do, you are much closer to the ability to do what God puts you on the earth to do, which is to make this place better.
[00:36:53]  And I could tell you that what is so brilliant about this book is that it goes, there's 366 pages in this book.
[00:37:02]  It's one for each day, including a leap here.
[00:37:06]  And so each, you read a page and you apply it to your life.
[00:37:09]  It's incredibly applicable, right?
[00:37:10]  Okay, here's what I see.
[00:37:12]  I want to improve on this.
[00:37:13]  Here's what I see.
[00:37:14]  I want to improve on this.
[00:37:15]  And look, you have the ability to improve your livelihood.
[00:37:21]  And I'll say this: look, you know, we're at a period of time where we're being inundated with nonsense, propaganda.
[00:37:28]  You know, a lot of people here ask me, Charlie, I'm just, you know, I feel negative.
[00:37:32]  I'm cynical about the future.
[00:37:35]  You know, and you have to wonder, and Doctor, I'm sure you could comment on this, how much of that is really what you believe, and is it what you're processing and putting into your mind and into your body?
[00:37:47]  And I'm writing about this actually in my upcoming book.
[00:37:50]  I have a whole chapter on it: that if we want to win against the Marxists, then we have to take our own health and our children's health extremely seriously.
[00:38:02]  We will not, quote unquote, win if we are sloppy and overweight and watching Netflix all day long.
[00:38:08]  We have to be the best possible versions of ourselves, especially if we have the agency to do it.
[00:38:15]  And you make it really easy.
[00:38:16]  And so, doctor, two things in closing, and then I want to get to some questions.
[00:38:19]  We're going to do questions a lot differently this time, though, which is, I'll explain it in a second.
[00:38:25]  So, talk about Romans 12:2 and how that applies.
[00:38:29]  And then just talk more broadly about the mental crisis, mental health crisis.
[00:38:36]  I know you don't like the term mental illness, but mental health crisis, brain health crisis that the younger generation is experiencing.
[00:38:43]  It's unprecedented.
[00:38:45]  It's real.
[00:38:46]  It's almost a national emergency.
[00:38:48]  So, maybe tie Romans 12:2 into that, and then we'll take some questions.
[00:38:52]  So, Romans 12:2, most people know, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:38:58]  But they often don't mention the second part of that, which is be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
[00:39:08]  Then you will test it to know if it fits God's good, perfect, and pleasing well.
[00:39:17]  So when you have a thought, test it to see if it fits God's good, perfect, and pleasing will.
[00:39:28]  And we are in a mental mess that is horrifying.
[00:39:32]  I believe we're on the beginning of a tidal wave of brain health, mental health problems in children and young adults.
[00:39:43]  57% of teenage girls are persistently sad.
[00:39:49]  57%.
[00:39:54]  30% have thought of suicide.
[00:39:57]  24% have planned to kill themselves.
[00:40:01]  A quarter of young girls have planned to kill themselves.
[00:40:05]  13%, one in eight, have tried.
[00:40:08]  This is horrifying.
[00:40:11]  We're seeing similar numbers in boys as far as ADHD, addictions, obesity.
[00:40:20]  We're in trouble.
[00:40:22]  And in large part, it's the pandemic and the reaction of our country, the isolation, the fear, the lockdowns, the death tolls, which then led to bad food, more alcohol, chronically stressed people.
[00:40:39]  We got enough.
[00:40:40]  If we don't pay attention and we allow what happened again, that means we're not learning.
[00:40:47]  And then COVID itself, you get COVID, and almost all of us here have had it, that it increases the risk of a new onset mental illness in the next six months.
[00:40:59]  25% of people who get COVID will get a new onset depression, new onset anxiety disorder.
[00:41:05]  It's what happened to Kendall Jenner.
[00:41:07]  You should just see her brain.
[00:41:08]  It was just like a bomb of inflammation went off in her brain.

=== Delay Gadgets And Heal From COVID (15:21) ===

[00:41:14]  Mix that with digital addictions.
[00:41:20]  If a product is free, think Facebook or TikTok.
[00:41:27]  If a product is free, you're the product.
[00:41:32]  You're what they're going after.
[00:41:35]  It's that subtle change in your mind, subtle change in your behavior, subtle change in how you spend money.
[00:41:43]  Do you really want to be controlled by people like Mark Zuckerberg?
[00:41:49]  I'm like, no.
[00:41:52]  You need to delay giving your kids gadgets as long as possible.
[00:41:56]  You need to take them from them at night.
[00:42:00]  You need to take them and put them in your room at night.
[00:42:05]  Oh, but they'll have a fit.
[00:42:06]  It's like, well, that's why God gave you parents to supervise them.
[00:42:13]  You have to take them from night and just, you have to supervise it.
[00:42:18]  You do not want these gadgets in their hands and heads without adult supervision.
[00:42:25]  And then if you add the toxic products and the toxic food and the toxic thoughts, there's a way out, but it's through brain health.
[00:42:35]  That's my belief.
[00:42:36]  Through brain health, which no better place to deliver it than the church.
[00:42:41]  No better place.
[00:42:43]  I wrote the Daniel Plan.
[00:42:45]  Some of you may have done it at Saddleback Church, thousands of churches around the world.
[00:42:50]  It's a health program in church.
[00:42:53]  So exciting.
[00:42:54]  So Charlie and I are talking about writing a mental health plan for churches.
[00:43:01]  I think it would be kind of fun to do, don't you?
[00:43:03]  So let's start lining up for questions.
[00:43:06]  But here's going to be different.
[00:43:08]  I don't want to hear about politics tonight, okay?
[00:43:10]  Come next month.
[00:43:11]  I mean it.
[00:43:11]  You can ask me about CRT or postmodernism or queer theory in July or August.
[00:43:17]  We have an expert here on something very particular, okay?
[00:43:20]  Number two, the doctor's not here to diagnose you, okay?
[00:43:24]  So I mean it.
[00:43:25]  If you're going on about your symptoms, I'm going to cut you off as lovingly as possible.
[00:43:29]  You do have team members that can help them, right?
[00:43:31]  But this is not your time.
[00:43:33]  Ask questions about the topics he mentioned, right?
[00:43:36]  And so those two parameters, if you have a question about Charlie, who are you voting for in the primary?
[00:43:40]  Listen to the podcast.
[00:43:41]  All right.
[00:43:42]  I'm going to be as lovingly cruel as I can tonight with this stuff because you have a special expert here here to teach you something.
[00:43:49]  You have me every month that you can come and ask me those questions later.
[00:43:52]  With that, let's get started.
[00:43:55]  Hello, hello.
[00:43:56]  Hi, Doctor.
[00:43:57]  Thank you for coming tonight.
[00:43:58]  We've really enjoyed listening to you tonight.
[00:44:00]  Based on what you've said, I would like to know your thoughts on the correlation between what you do and the current push on transgenderism.
[00:44:12]  Yeah, that's an interesting topic.
[00:44:16]  I think there's hysteria, groupthink, in addition to we're poisoning children's hormones, which is causing them great confusion.
[00:44:34]  And so I think we have to look at the gender issue in all four circles.
[00:44:41]  So what's the biology of it?
[00:44:44]  And along with this, you should also ask yourself: why did the incidence of autism go from one in 10,000 in 1985 when I was a child psychiatry fellow?
[00:44:59]  One in 10,000, rare, to one in 34 now.
[00:45:06]  We're poisoning pregnant women, and it's not just pregnant women.
[00:45:11]  We want our boys to get healthy before they're making babies.
[00:45:16]  And you really want to get your mind blown.
[00:45:20]  When a little girl is born, she's born with all of the eggs she will ever have in her ovaries.
[00:45:28]  And then what happens to her throughout her life turns on or off certain genes that make illness more or less likely in her, but also in her babies and her grandbabies.
[00:45:42]  So as we started with, this is not just about you.
[00:45:45]  This is about generations of you.
[00:45:49]  And as we've been poisoning our population with parabens and phthalates and bisphenol A, which the CDC said is in 90% of Americans, what we're doing is we're increasing the risk of illness.
[00:46:08]  And now with hormone disruptors, we're increasing the risk of gender confusion.
[00:46:17]  And then there's a psychological part to this.
[00:46:21]  Clearly, people, kids are depressed.
[00:46:24]  They're anxious.
[00:46:25]  They're thinking maybe, you know, if I change my gender, I'll be happier.
[00:46:29]  It's generally a lie.
[00:46:31]  There's clearly a social contagion to it.
[00:46:36]  And there's just a bit of evil with going on with that.
[00:46:40]  And it's a spiritual attack.
[00:46:43]  And so if you understand it from that point, we have to clean up our environment.
[00:46:48]  I mean, it's so critical to stop poisoning people, get our minds right, so we're not believing every stupid thing we think, get our connections better.
[00:47:00]  And the church has got to be more effective at getting people into church, but not by polarizing people.
[00:47:09]  What the doctor just said is so courageous for him to say, you understand the party line on that is not that.
[00:47:17]  So you deserve to be commended for that.
[00:47:18]  Oh, no, the American Medical Association would throw me out, but I'm not a member, so they can't throw me out.
[00:47:28]  Do you see why they wouldn't want that?
[00:47:30]  Because it's, you know, not, drugs are not the answer to everything, everybody.
[00:47:35]  Okay, over there.
[00:47:36]  Yes, hi.
[00:47:37]  So I have my 10-year-old son with me, and his fourth-grade teacher brought it to our attention that she notices some type of OCD and anxiety.
[00:47:52]  And she said, I can't diagnose as a teacher, so I'd like for you to take him and go get tested.
[00:47:58]  His primary PCP pediatrician said, you know, after doing a bunch of questions, yes, he has something.
[00:48:07]  Let's just give him a low dose of a pill as a second choice.
[00:48:12]  Her first choice is she wanted him to get some counseling and therapy because it's a broken home situation.
[00:48:19]  So fast forward, I was told that brain mapping is a waste of money and that I shouldn't do the brain mapping because it doesn't really work.
[00:48:31]  And then I was also given, call the Gentry Foundation.
[00:48:36]  But you mentioned tonight that you guys have opened up somewhere new in Scottsdale.
[00:48:43]  What should I do for my 10-year-old son when the ex-husband won't allow any type of counseling or any of that?
[00:48:56]  So the first thing is not to put him on medicine.
[00:48:59]  That's not the first thing.
[00:49:01]  It's to really learn about the history and why he's struggling.
[00:49:11]  Looking at his brain.
[00:49:13]  I mean, in my mind, if I saw him, I would want to look at his brain and go, how is it?
[00:49:18]  When you think of things like OCD and anxiety, like, did it happen after he got COVID?
[00:49:26]  There's this other thing we talk about a lot as child psychiatrists called pandas, pediatric, autoimmune, neuropsychiatric disorders associated with SRAP.
[00:49:36]  You know, is it an infection?
[00:49:39]  Is it a family situation?
[00:49:43]  And if you never evaluate them, how do you actually know?
[00:49:49]  The easy answer is, oh, he tends to be obsessive, so give him Lexapro.
[00:49:55]  That's not a good first step.
[00:49:58]  The good first step is, let me really understand him in those four circles, including the biology.
[00:50:08]  And when I think of anxiety, you know, people go to the emergency room, they get benzos.
[00:50:13]  I'm like, no, no, no.
[00:50:15]  Teach them diaphragmat breathing.
[00:50:19]  There's a specific pattern that's masterful.
[00:50:24]  It's for kids, three seconds in, take a big breath, three seconds in, mostly with your belly, and then six seconds out.
[00:50:35]  And do that 10 times.
[00:50:38]  And what you notice is anxiety goes like that.
[00:50:41]  Why wouldn't we teach that the first thing?
[00:50:43]  I also have a book I wrote called Captain Snout and the Superpower Questions.
[00:50:49]  It's how to teach kids not to believe every stupid thing they think.
[00:50:55]  It's really important.
[00:50:57]  Can you imagine?
[00:50:59]  I was 28 years old in my psychiatric residency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
[00:51:07]  And one of the professors came in and he sat down and he looked at us and he said, you have to teach your patients not to believe every stupid thing they think.
[00:51:19]  And I'm like, I'm 28 years old.
[00:51:22]  I'm in my residency, which means I've already had 20 years of education.
[00:51:27]  And I'm thinking to myself, I believe every stupid thing I think.
[00:51:31]  No one had ever said that to me.
[00:51:35]  This should be in second grade where we're teaching kids to manage their mind.
[00:51:42]  Now, obviously, I can't diagnose things from the stage, but it would clearly be worth having a conversation with my clinic here.
[00:51:51]  I think they're going to be the lobby afterwards, right?
[00:51:53]  Thank you so much.
[00:51:54]  And they'll be in the lobby afterwards if you want to chat with some of them.
[00:51:58]  We'll make sure it's easy to find them, okay?
[00:52:00]  Great.
[00:52:00]  Thank you.
[00:52:02]  Hi.
[00:52:03]  So first of all, I just want to thank you, Dr. Amon, for helping me by telling my mom 11 years ago, right after I had brain surgery, what supplements I needed to take to help my emotional problems.
[00:52:21]  My question is, as I mentioned, I had brain surgery 11 years ago to remove a tumor that caused some pretty severe disabilities.
[00:52:32]  So I have cranial nerve damage in my third, fourth, and sixth cranial nerves.
[00:52:40]  Recent tests, it was revealed that my superior and inferior collicula aren't functioning properly.
[00:52:47]  And so I suffer from some disabilities, as I said, shrabismus, severe tinnitus.
[00:52:53]  So my question is, do you know anything about neuroplasticity and any therapies I could do to make my situation better?
[00:53:03]  Also, Charlie, I just wanted to let you know that I sent an email to you, freedom at freedom at charliekirk.com, regarding this pride tree that's in my neighborhood.
[00:53:14]  So I just wanted to mention that really quick.
[00:53:16]  Thank you.
[00:53:17]  Are you an Awatuki or something?
[00:53:18]  I think I got an email.
[00:53:20]  I got four emails.
[00:53:21]  I'll check it out.
[00:53:22]  Someone emailed me about that.
[00:53:23]  I'll get back to you.
[00:53:24]  Doctor.
[00:53:24]  So the question of neuroplasticity is very exciting.
[00:53:28]  So I had mentioned my NFL work.
[00:53:32]  So these are people who had very severe long-term brain damage from thousands of hits to their head.
[00:53:41]  80% of my players got better when they followed my plan.
[00:53:47]  And it's generally what I say to my patients, do what I say.
[00:53:51]  If you want to be better, just do what I say because it's going to work.
[00:53:56]  And for them, it was brain envy, got to care about it.
[00:54:00]  Avoid things that hurt it, like we have to stop the things that hurt it that we talked about.
[00:54:06]  Do things that help it, plus a multiple vitamin fish oil, and a brain boost that works in six different ways.
[00:54:13]  80% of them were better.
[00:54:16]  So even if your brain's been hurt, even if you've been bad to it, you can make it better.
[00:54:25]  And I can prove it.
[00:54:33]  Hi, Dr. Amon.
[00:54:35]  Over 20 years ago, I brought my son into your clinic in Bellevue, Washington.
[00:54:40]  He had been in a head-on car accident.
[00:54:45]  And at that time, you had said that insurance wouldn't cover it because there wasn't enough data that they required.
[00:54:56]  Whatever.
[00:54:57]  I don't understand insurance.
[00:55:00]  Me neither.
[00:55:01]  Yeah.
[00:55:02]  Yeah.
[00:55:03]  But with over 200,000 patients that you just said you have seen over the years, what progress have you made in making this affordable?
[00:55:14]  I know because I called your clinic recently that a brain scan in your clinic is over $5,000.
[00:55:21]  So people here who might need your services, how do they afford it?
[00:55:28]  So let's be clear.
[00:55:30]  A whole evaluation, which includes two scans, detailed history, cognitive testing, and the first three follow-up visits is $5,300.
[00:55:44]  So let's just be clear, a brain scan is not $5,000.
[00:55:48]  And it's an investment, like I sent one of my children off to school and spent $60,000 the first year for them to go to school.
[00:55:58]  So I think it's a small investment for a big long-term payoff, that you understand what's going on and then treat it.
[00:56:08]  Because yes, there's a cost, but you also have to think about what's the cost of an ineffectively treated brain.
[00:56:18]  It's incredible.
[00:56:21]  I mean, it's things like divorce, incarceration, school failure, job failure.
[00:56:27]  So the money part's hard for me because I want to scan everybody.
[00:56:33]  I want to help everybody.

=== Breaking The Medication Trap For Kids (16:00) ===

[00:56:35]  But the fact is, if there's not a margin, there's no mission, right?
[00:56:39]  Because we don't get money from anybody.
[00:56:42]  The only way we make money is if people see value in what we do.
[00:56:51]  The scans at our clinic are probably half of what they are at any other clinic because the cost of the radiopharmaceutical or the isotope is $1,600.
[00:57:06]  So that's just the medicine to do the procedure.
[00:57:12]  So it's hard.
[00:57:14]  And the only way that cost is going to go down is if SPACT gets adopted on a much wider scale.
[00:57:25]  And so I don't take insurance because, quite frankly, I'm not aligned with the insurance company.
[00:57:33]  My goal is to get people better.
[00:57:35]  Their goal is to save money.
[00:57:38]  And so it's a nonstop fight with them.
[00:57:42]  And I will say that you're seeing a trend that the most effective and emergent innovations in medicine are not covered by insurance right now.
[00:57:50]  And I just hate to say it.
[00:57:51]  The stuff that's really piercing the darkness and improving people quickly, homeopathic solutions, diet changes, all sorts of different types of proven stuff, ozone therapy, vitamin D supplementation.
[00:58:05]  I think we have a sick care industry in America that is afraid to go and cover things with an insurance pool that actually, I mean, I don't think you have to be a conspiracy theorist.
[00:58:16]  I'll just say this, Doctor.
[00:58:17]  If all of a sudden if every American was brain scanned every couple years, all of a sudden there'd be so much information, people would change their diets, all of a sudden they'd ask better questions, and Pfizer, Astrogenica, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson would have to run for the hills.
[00:58:30]  So that's my opinion.
[00:58:36]  Hi, Dr. Eamon.
[00:58:37]  I'm Katica from Gilbert.
[00:58:39]  Thank you for being here.
[00:58:40]  It's an honor to be able to hear you speak.
[00:58:43]  I'd like to know, how does prayer affect the brain?
[00:58:48]  So I have a foundation.
[00:58:53]  It's called the Change Your Brain Foundation, where we raise money for research, for education, and for service for people who can't afford to come to our clinics.
[00:59:06]  Somebody gave us a donation to study prayer.
[00:59:10]  And so we did.
[00:59:12]  We studied conversational prayer, I pray for you.
[00:59:18]  We studied speaking in tongues, which is channeling the Holy Spirit.
[00:59:25]  We studied prophecy and discernment.
[00:59:29]  It was fascinating.
[00:59:31]  And the hypothesis was that speaking in tongues, you would drop your frontal lobes, the executive part of the brain, and activate your emotional brain, where we believe that the Holy Spirit would actually speak through you.
[00:59:52]  That was actually true in 60% of our subjects.
[00:59:56]  But one of our subjects, it looked like he just got a hit of cocaine.
[01:00:02]  I looked at this scan and I'm like, you do this a lot, don't you?
[01:00:07]  Because it was so reinforcing.
[01:00:11]  I'm really good friends with Andrew Newberg, who is the physician at Thomas Jefferson University, who has studied Franciscan nuns praying and Tibetan monks meditating.
[01:00:28]  And what they find with meditation and prayer is just fascinating because it actually helps to balance the brain.
[01:00:45]  And I know when you're a Christian, you often feel like the whole science community is against you.
[01:00:52]  It's absolutely not true.
[01:00:55]  And an imaging finding that believers have greater activity in their right temporal lobe than non-believers.
[01:01:05]  So what does that mean?
[01:01:07]  Well, we actually have healthier brains.
[01:01:09]  Just saying.
[01:01:13]  Thank you.
[01:01:15]  You know, Doctor, about that cocaine thing, explains some Pentecostals I know really well now that you mentioned that.
[01:01:22]  I won't say any San Diego-based churches.
[01:01:25]  I won't mention any of them.
[01:01:28]  I'm not mentioning.
[01:01:29]  It's a different church.
[01:01:32]  Good evening.
[01:01:33]  I have a teenage grandson with ODD, optimal defiant disorder.
[01:01:39]  And I was wondering your thoughts on that.
[01:01:42]  On OCD and what else?
[01:01:44]  ODD, optimal defiant disorder.
[01:01:47]  Oh, oppositional defiance disorder.
[01:01:52]  Oh, I know about it.
[01:01:54]  I studied it.
[01:01:55]  I published on it.
[01:01:56]  I had one at home.
[01:02:00]  So, oppositional defiant disorder.
[01:02:03]  What we usually see is their brains actually look like they have OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.
[01:02:10]  They just get stuck.
[01:02:11]  So, you know, if you have obsessive-compulsive disorder, you get stuck on I have to clean, I have to wash, bad thought that goes over and over again.
[01:02:19]  With ODD, you get stuck on no, no way, never.
[01:02:26]  You can't make me do it.
[01:02:29]  And sometimes raising serotonin in their brain will calm down.
[01:02:34]  It's called the anterior cingulate gyrus.
[01:02:37]  It's often the brain's gear shifter.
[01:02:39]  It allows you to go from thought to thought, move from idea to idea, be flexible, go with the flow.
[01:02:46]  When it's overactive, people tend to be, They get stuck, which can be on obsessions or compulsions or being argumentative, or no.
[01:03:00]  And so a little bit of serotonin will help.
[01:03:05]  If you really need to talk to them, take them on a walk and don't actually bring up anything sticky for about 15 minutes because exercise naturally boosts serotonin.
[01:03:18]  And I love the parenting program, Parenting with Love and Logic.
[01:03:27]  I love that program for oppositional defiant disorder kids.
[01:03:32]  It is so effective.
[01:03:34]  It's written by Jim and Charles Fay.
[01:03:38]  Go to loveandlogic.com.
[01:03:40]  It's just outstanding.
[01:03:47]  Good evening, Dr. Amon.
[01:03:49]  My name is Jane Al.
[01:03:50]  I'm a recreational therapist working in a psychiatric hospital.
[01:03:55]  And I just want some more information because I first discovered you like two years ago when I was at the VA here in Phoenix.
[01:04:05]  And I was just so intrigued.
[01:04:07]  Like nowhere did I find any of your information about ending mental illness and especially with working with vets and what they experience.
[01:04:16]  And now I'm with like substance abuse and suicidal ideation.
[01:04:23]  And so I'm like just wanting to know how can I better advocate for patients to get the health care that they need because it's just a reciprocal revolving door.
[01:04:34]  I see the same people coming in for the same things over and over again.
[01:04:39]  Beautiful question, isn't it?
[01:04:40]  Yeah.
[01:04:41]  As it will be until we actually start thinking of this as a brain health issue.
[01:04:47]  When we think of it as a mental health issue that I can solve with medication that is not targeted to their brain, but to a cluster of symptoms, we're going to end up with this circular system where things are not better.
[01:05:04]  I mean, I'm listening to a book now called Healing by Tom Insel.
[01:05:07]  Tom Insel was the director of the National Institute of Mental Health.
[01:05:12]  He was responsible for $20 billion in resource money.
[01:05:17]  And he basically said, I failed.
[01:05:20]  And he did, because he didn't shift the profession away from a categorical or a symptom-based diagnosis to brain circuitry.
[01:05:35]  And we need to do that.
[01:05:37]  And I think just you knowing about it, you talking about it, you looking at, you know, how are your habits?
[01:05:44]  Do you love your brain?
[01:05:47]  And as a recreational therapist, you're doing exercise with them, right?
[01:05:52]  And you know, head to head.
[01:05:54]  Exercise has been found to be equally effective as antidepressants.
[01:05:59]  Are we putting an exercise program in your life?
[01:06:05]  So not just while you're here in the program, but how do we figure out how you can do this every day?
[01:06:14]  And if you're drinking, that's not loving your brain.
[01:06:17]  If you're smoking pot, which is largely endorsed by the psychiatric community, it's another bit of insanity.
[01:06:24]  If you're smoking pot, you're probably not going to be feeling better.
[01:06:28]  So if you get them to eat right, they're going to be thinking better.
[01:06:34]  So I know not everybody's going to get a scan, but at least learn from what we've learned from the scans with a better brain always comes a better life.
[01:06:45]  And come by the booth.
[01:06:46]  We'll give you about 10 books to give to some of the people you're helping.
[01:06:49]  I think this book could help them.
[01:06:50]  All right, come by the booth afterwards.
[01:06:51]  All right, thank you.
[01:06:52]  Jared or Will, we'll set that up.
[01:06:54]  All right.
[01:06:55]  About two more.
[01:06:56]  We're good on time.
[01:06:57]  Two more.
[01:06:58]  All right.
[01:06:59]  Hi, Dr. Eamon.
[01:07:00]  I have a question to you.
[01:07:02]  I have a bunch of friends that have been experiencing new treatments in holistic centers.
[01:07:08]  And my question is: what do you feel about the ketamine treatments that are going on right now for brain health?
[01:07:17]  I'm worried about ketamine.
[01:07:21]  I've had patients who they've failed everything, and it's helpful, but it doesn't stick.
[01:07:29]  And why would you do something over and over again if it's not fixing the problem?
[01:07:38]  So I'm very worried about psilocybin, ayahuasca, and ketamine.
[01:07:45]  I mean, if you just think about it, the street drugs of the 60s are making a comeback.
[01:07:51]  I'm not sure that's progress.
[01:07:54]  And shouldn't we at least think about like non-toxic things like hyperbaric oxygen if you had a brain injury or if you have low blood flow to your brain?
[01:08:05]  Have we really worked on what are the right supplements?
[01:08:08]  What's the right diet?
[01:08:11]  From a brain health perspective, I know how they work.
[01:08:16]  And I do a series, you can see it on Instagram called Scan My Brain.
[01:08:21]  We actually released a new episode today with Emma Willis, Bruce Willis's wife, and we talked about the stress she's been under managing someone who has frontal temporal lobe dementia.
[01:08:35]  But I also did one with Annalyn McCourt, who did a whole documentary on plant medicine.
[01:08:42]  That's what they call mushrooms and hallucinogens.
[01:08:49]  And her brain was not healthy.
[01:08:52]  She thought it was helpful to her.
[01:08:55]  My goal is to get you a better brain because I believe with a better brain, you're going to have a better life.
[01:09:03]  Don't do ayahuasca, people.
[01:09:05]  That's my take.
[01:09:06]  It has destroyed young people's lives that I know personally.
[01:09:09]  I think it's the pharmakea that the New Testament warns us against.
[01:09:13]  All right, thank you.
[01:09:14]  Last question.
[01:09:15]  Hi, Dr. Eamon.
[01:09:17]  I have a son that's 33 years old.
[01:09:19]  He has sustained several traumatic brain injuries.
[01:09:23]  Some are moderate and some are not so, but he just can't get help and he doesn't have the health insurance.
[01:09:33]  They won't even take x-rays.
[01:09:36]  When he was injured, they just stitched up his head and sent him away.
[01:09:41]  What's the best thing for him?
[01:09:43]  Well, I mean, the first thing to do is if you can, you know, scan them and see what's going on.
[01:09:54]  If you can't, in my book, The End of Mental Illness, there's a whole chapter on rehabilitating brain trauma.
[01:10:03]  And, you know, for a long time, I'm like, okay, not everybody's coming to the clinic.
[01:10:10]  You can check my books out at the library for free.
[01:10:15]  And I like lay it out in my books.
[01:10:19]  If you have this, do that.
[01:10:21]  And here's step one, and here's step two, and here's step three.
[01:10:25]  And it's my NFL repair guide in the end of mental illness.
[01:10:32]  And there's also lots of information on end and change your brain every day because, you know, as I said, it's like the most important thing I learned is there's a lot of psychiatric illness as a direct result of traumatic brain injuries.
[01:10:48]  Thank you.
[01:10:49]  Appreciate it.
[01:10:49]  Thanks so much.
[01:10:50]  So a couple thoughts in closing.
[01:10:56]  In July, I will be talking on Sunday, July 2nd, right?
[01:11:00]  Which is the Sunday before July 4th.
[01:11:03]  And it's part of the Jesus Says series.
[01:11:07]  I get that right.
[01:11:08]  Jesus teaches.
[01:11:10]  What did Jesus say?
[01:11:12]  I was in the atmosphere.
[01:11:15]  What did Jesus say about liberty is my topic.
[01:11:19]  We'll be talking at 9 a.m. in Scottsdale and 11.15 here.
[01:11:23]  Did I get that right?
[01:11:24]  11.
[01:11:25]  See, I'm a little bit off tonight.
[01:11:27]  So come there, and then we'll be back in August.
[01:11:30]  And so hope to see many of you also.
[01:11:32]  If you want to take a cross-country flight for our Turning Point Action Event Action Conference in Palm Beach, we just announced Tucker Carlson will be speaking there.
[01:11:42]  We have some really big names.
[01:11:44]  So that will be July 15th and 16th, all the way in Palm Beach.
[01:11:48]  I know it's a ways, but if you guys want to be there, and obviously we'll have America Fest again, which is more local in December.
[01:11:53]  But I want to just reiterate: this conversation was super important.
[01:11:57]  You guys will be able to hear it back on my podcast.
[01:11:59]  Also, check out the information provided with the book in the lobby.
[01:12:04]  But if you want to be a strong citizen, if you care about reclaiming your country and your grandkids' country, then you also need to be aware of all the other threats, not just the educational curriculum and all that stuff we talk about, the toxins, the screen time.
[01:12:20]  And there's no better expert to be able to strengthen your brain health than Dr. Eamon.
[01:12:28]  Any final thoughts?
[01:12:30]  I really love how you framed the idea of freedom.

=== Ultimate Freedom Through Brain Health (01:25) ===

[01:12:36]  Is can you really be free if your brain is not healthy?
[01:12:42]  And I'm going to turn 69 next month, and I've seen way too many 69-year-old brains to know if I'm not serious, what's headed for me.
[01:12:55]  And I don't know if any of you are worried about, you know, I wrote an op-ed piece on should we scan presidential candidates.
[01:13:02]  And I'm like, I'm just a little bit concerned.
[01:13:11]  But if your brain's deteriorating, you become imprisoned in a mind that is not for you.
[01:13:21]  And so the ultimate freedom is having a brain that works right and then helping the people you love have brains that work right as well.
[01:13:32]  He's obviously talking about Mike Pence, right?
[01:13:35]  So Luke, come on up and say a prayer.
[01:13:37]  And everybody, let's just enthusiastically thank Dr. Eamon.
[01:13:41]  Was that not a great evening?
[01:13:47]  Thanks so much for listening, everybody.
[01:13:49]  Email us your thoughts as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.
[01:13:52]  Thanks so much for listening and God bless.
[01:13:56]  For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to CharlieKirk. com.